Editorial

The 80th issue of New Contree not only points to major trends currently
influencing the South African political landscape (trends like land, the
country’s colonial legacy and how to cleverly manage, and perhaps overcome
the many complexities in a democratic acceptable way), but also how some
other parts in Southern Africa have struggled with issues like education and
the politicisation of health.

Despite seemingly frustrating historiographical silences on education in
colonial time, Swaziland Hamilton Simelane in Colonial administrators,
indigenous leaders, and missionaries: Contesting the education of the Swazi
child, 1921-1939 provides insight into the nature of the relations between
indigenous rulers, the British as colonial administrators and the missionaries
in early 20th century Swaziland. Simelane points out that the indigenous
monarchical leadership not merely accepted colonial administrative education
for the Swazi children. The impression of contesting power play between
the administration and the indigenous leaders in order to gain or maintain
control, is pointed out. It seems that originally more empathy from various
external resorts on the side of the indigenous leadership’s ideas for education
via king Sobhuza’s (leading since 1921 to 1935) temporarily allowed for laming
Western education in some schools in Swaziland. The failure of the Sobuza
approach allowed Western education to proceed, without contestation, in the
education of Swazi children.

From a slightly different angle Roy Jankielsohn of the Free State legislature
and André Duvenhage as political experts pull their efforts together in
Expectations and the issue of land in South Africa – the historical origins and
current debate to debate this currently contentious political issue of land. They
review the country’s history of dispossession, displacement and deprivation
during the pre-colonial, colonial and apartheid era. The importance and value
of historically contextualising discussions on land are pointed out. These
authors strongly feel that (and discuss why) ideological divisions between the
NDR and the NDP/NGP within the ruling African National Congress-run
(ANC) government hamper progress towards achieving the land redistribution
objectives outlined in these development plans and programmes. As a result,
it is felt the necessary emphasis on sustainability of redistributed land for
increased food security has fallen victim to this ideological tug-of-war, which
has the potential to further instil social societal conflict in future.

Politicisation also does feature in other shapes and sizes, thus Clement
Masakure. In The politicisation of health in Zimbabwe: The case of the
cholera epidemic, August 2008-March 2009, Masakure views the diversity of
contemporary political party narratives in Zimbabwe, as well as external views,
on the cholera epidemic during the aftermath of the disputed June 2008
presidential runoff. The impression gained by Masakure from all the verbal
political tossing seems to have been to score more politically on ruling party
or oppositional side than a seemingly concern over the cholera matter itself.
Yet, the 2008 cholera outbreak is interestingly viewed as “another incident
that played its fair part in driving political transformation in Zimbabwe”.

The book reviews in the New Contree 80th issue also cover issues of land,
colonial time histories and post-colonial education frustrations. They are
Martin Legassick’s, Hidden Histories of Gordonia, land dispossession and
resistance in the Northern Cape, 1800-1990; Anne Heffernan and Noor
Nieftagodien with some other writers on Students must rise; youth struggle
in South Africa before and beyond Soweto ’76; Hans Heese’s, Amsterdam tot
Zeeland: Slawestand tot Middelstand? ’n Stellenbosse slawegeskiedenis, 1679-
1834 and then also Margaretha Schäfer’s compiled reports on Dors geles oor
die Dorsland and on the iconic writer and historian PJ van der Merwe, in Meer
oor PJ van der Merwe.

The study of Swazi historical affairs in the colonial period has remained patchy. The historian is confronted by numerous gaps that make it difficult to get a comprehensive view of the development of the history of the ...

Land remains a contentious political issue that has the potential for further conflict in South Africa. Expectations over land are a legitimate result of a history of dispossession, displacement and deprivation during the ...

In this article the case of the August 2008 to March 2009 cholera epidemic is used to examine the intersections between health and politics in Zimbabwe. The focus is on the different narratives deployed by the mainstream ...